The Nights that Define Us
by Someone aka Me
Summary: Threeshot JP/LE Because the only thing James would ever stay up all night for - excluding Marauders and moons - is Lily. He did so three times. The first time he was nervous. The second, planning. The third, he was anxious and excited and anticipatory...
1. A First Date

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

For the Staying Up All Night Competition. **Chapter ****2 ****won ****second ****place!**

What would something a Harry Potter character would stay up all night for, and what would they wait to snatch up the moment an opportunity arrives?

Character given: James Potter (I)

AN: I find it quite hilarious that in my fics, Sirius Black and Padma Patil have the same nickname.

"_The Nights that Define Us"_

Because the only thing James would ever stay up all night for – excluding Marauders and full moons – is Lily. He did so three times.

_-JPLE-_

"James. It's three in the bloody morning. _Go__to__bed_," Sirius mumbled.

"I can't, Pads. I just can't. You don't understand. She said _yes_, mate! This has to be perfect!"

"Yes, James. We've established that already. About fifty times!" Reluctantly, Sirius slid out of sleep's warm embrace and blearily opened his eyes.

"I've tried to sleep, Pads. Honest." James was looking at him with those wide eyes that made it hard for Sirius to be angry at his best mate. "It's just, every time I close my eyes, I start to think of a million and one things that could go wrong, and I start to worry."

"You've got to relax. Seriously. No pun intended. She said yes, and she wasn't coerced, or threatened, or anything else. She said yes because she wanted to. That means she likes _you._ Well, the new and improved _mature_ James Potter, anyway."

Sirius grinned, though it wasn't as bright as it would have been at a normal hour.

"All you have to do, then, is be yourself. You let me worry about dragons stampeding through Hogsmead."

"Dragons! Oh, I didn't even consider that!" James went off, completely muttering to himself.

"JAMES!" Sirius snapped. Remus groaned, but fell back asleep. He was used to Sirius and James yelling at odd hours. Peter didn't even budge. That boy slept so deep that the Slytherins had once levitated his bed into the lake, and he hadn't woken up until the Giant Squid started strangling him.

James glanced at Sirius sheepishly.

"That was not a serious comment. It was a Sirius comment. Dragons are not going to be stampeding through Hogsmead. What I meant was that all you need to worry about is charming a pretty redhead. I've got everything me. We all want this to go well." _If__only__so__we__don__'__t__have__to__listen__to__you__whine__for__years__after__the__fact._

James attempted to smile at Sirius, but it came out as more of a worried grimace.

Sirius sighed.

"Look, mate. I love you, I really do, but now is so not the time to fall to pieces on me. I'm going to bed. She'll love you. You'll get married and have lots of messy black haired green eyed babies. Trust me. Goodnight."

And SIrius rolled over and promptly went back to sleep.

James didn't sleep. He worried. And paced. And worried. And paced some more. When his legs got tired, he flopped down on his bed and stared upward, mind going a million miles an hour.

_-JPLE-_

"She's going to hate me."

"James," Sirius groaned. "What did I tell you three hours ago?"

James sighed. He got up and paced some more.

_-JPLE-_

"I don't know how to do this."

"At least it's a sane hour, this time," Sirius muttered.

"This is serious!" He glared at Sirius, daring him to crack the pun he deeply wanted to. Sirius sighed and left it. "I honestly don't know how to do this, and she's honestly going to hate me."

"James, you've taken a girl to Hogsmead before," Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah, but not one that mattered!"

Sirius conceded that point.

"Still, you need to relax. The best of you comes out when you're relaxed."

James nodded. "You're right. I know you're right. I just… I don't want to mess this up."

"I know, Prongs. Trust me, I know."

James's hands shook as he got dressed, then changed, then changed again. Nervously, he attempted to flatten his hair. Needless to say, he was unsuccessful.

"You look great, James," Remus said bluntly as he rolled out of bed, analyzing the situation accurately in seconds. "She'll love it."

Peter sat up moments later, rubbing his eyes. He glanced at James, still fruitlessly trying to flatten his hair.

"Prongs, you've already managed the hard part looking like Sirius used your head for a toothbrush."

An indignant "HEY!" was heard from the bathroom, but Sirius couldn't deny that his bristles stuck out everywhere.

"Anyway," Peter muttered. "If she agreed to go out with you looking like that, obviously she isn't going to mind you showing up to a date like that."

Sirius poked his head out of the bathroom, said toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, toothpaste all over his face.

" 'i. 'id 'rmy 'us sy smthin is?"

Peter looked at him in bafflement.

"Oi. Did Wormy just say something wise?" James translated.

"Ahh." Peter nodded in understanding. "Hey, wait!" he yelped, offended. James and Sirius laughed, Sirius spraying foamy toothpaste everywhere. Remus emerged from the showers, glanced around, sighed, and spelled away the mess.

"Sometimes, you guys…" All four boys laughed.

_-JPLE-_

James downed four mugs of coffee at breakfast. This actually came near to what Sirius drank, namely, his typical five. Remus frowned at them both, nibbling on his toast. Peter clutched a mug in his hands, enjoying the scent and the warmth, but drank nothing.

_-JPLE-_

"Prongs! Oi, Prongs!" James looked up from his forlorn position, splayed across his bed.

"So?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows, flopping down next to him. "How'd it go?"

"Well…" he murmured. "She doesn't hate me."

Sirius grinned like mad.

"She also thinks I'm a hyperactive four-year-old. I knew I shouldn't have had that fourth cup! You! You know what caffeine does to me, why didn't you stop me?"

Sirius frowned. "In what way is you staying up all night, thereby necessitating the _four__mugs__of__coffee_, my fault?"

The corner of James's mouth quirked up. "You sounded like Moony for a second there."

Sirius smirked. "I did, didn't I?" He put on a posh, professor like voice. "Now, my dear boy, the fact of the matter is, you deserve whatever comeuppance you get, for it is thine own fault, for temporarily becoming an insomniac!"

James snickered. "Give Rem some credit, Pads! I don't think even _he_ would say 'comeuppance'."

Sirius laughed. "Maybe you're right. Don't think I've ever heard him say 'thine', either, come to think of it." He thought for a moment. "Eh, well. He'll never know." Sirius shrugged.

"Won't he?" James asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"James Potter, if you tell him, you are dead. Dead, do you hear me?"

"Why?" James asked mock-innocently (or as innocently as James Potter ever could). "You don't honestly think he'd _care_ that you think he's stuffy and professorish, do you?" he drawled sarcastically.

"C'mon, James, last time I imitated him, he wouldn't let me copy his notes for a week! I actually had to… you know…" Sirius shuddered at the memory, "pay attention!" he finished. "It was horrible!"

James burst out laughing. "You know, some people actually do that on a regular basis, Pads."

"I know! It's not my fault I'm a genius who doesn't have to pay attention to ace everything!"

"And so modest, too!"

"You're lucky I like you, Potter!" Sirius growled. James grinned.

"All right, all right. For that flattery, I'll lower my price on not spilling to Moony. You've still got some of Mum's fudge from Christmas, right?"

Sirius gasped. "Not your mum's fudge, Prongsie! Anything but the fudge!"

"It's the fudge, or Remus's notes. That's my final offer."

Sirius sighed and reluctantly dug the prized fudge out of his trunk.

"You suck."

"I know," James chirped. "That fudge is worth it."

"So," Sirius asked casually, "Evans going to give you a second chance, or will you forever be a hyperactive four-year-old forever?"

James sighed, his mood darkening. "She says I've used up so many chances that I don't even have a whole one left. She's giving me _half_ a date, next Hogsmead weekend."

"_Half__a__date?_ How in Merlin's name does she plan on managing that?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I think it means I have half the time? Or maybe there's going to be two of us with her? I don't know. The things that woman comes up with, I tell you. She's mad as a hatter."

"But you love her," Sirius said soberly.

"I do."

Neither spoke for a moment, until Sirius couldn't stand the serious anymore.

"Well," he said brightly, "Good thing you're mad as a hatter, too, then!"


	2. An Almost Perfect Proposal

AN: I made some changes to the beginning of the first paragraph because I'd initially forgotten that the Marauders stay up all night on full moons. It's not necessary to reread, just know that this now is the three nights James stayed up _for Lily_.

The second time James stayed up all night, it wasn't because he was nervous. It was because he was planning.

_-JPLE-_

Sirius was crashed on his couch. Remus had left hours ago. Peter was who-knew-where.

James scribbled away on a piece of parchment. He was surrounded by parchment, some balled up and near the wastebasket, others carefully stacked in a messy pile next to him. He had sent out many owls the night before, and he was surrounded by the stuff they had returned with. He ran around like a madman, putting everything in place. It was five am. James hadn't slept. By seven, his flat was hardly visible under the mess. He woke Sirius who took one look at his place and began to laugh.

"Have fun cleaning this up, James," he chuckled.

The look James gave him made him stop laughing immediately.

"Oh, no! I am not helping-" Sirius was interrupted by James stuffing an armful of – well, Sirius wasn't really sure what it was, actually.

"Go set that up."

"_Where?"_

"The park, genius! GO!"

Sirius went. James was scary when he got like this.

James double checked everything.

He triple checked everything.

Then he quadruple checked everything.

_It has to be _perfect_, _he thought.

He was frazzled but ready when he apparated to Lily's flat at noon, his hair as groomed as it ever was, a Muggle suit on with a Gryffindor tie (which he really hadn't been able to resist).

The picnic went perfectly. The weather was glorious, the exact sort of fine spring day that James had been hoping for.

The play afterward (Hamlet, because Lily harbored a love of Shakespeare) was actually entertaining enough to keep even James awake in the dimly lit theater.

The dinner began perfectly. The fancy restaurant James had reserved was full to bursting, but James had reserved a quiet table on a balcony in the back, overlooking all of London. The view was beautiful, the food delicious. James couldn't believe his luck.

_-JPLE-_

"James. James, wake up!" A hand on his shoulder shook him awake. James blinked away the grogginess and looked around. Lily was smiling gently at him.

"James, the restaurant is about to close. They need us to leave."

"What?" James took in the situation. He had food smeared across his cheek. He flushed.

"No, no! I fell asleep?"

Lily grinned.

"No! Today was supposed to be perfect! I planned it perfectly!"

"Maybe you should have planned more sleep?" she asked wryly.

James sighed.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted this to go."

"James, today _was_ perfect. It was sweet and beautiful and peaceful, and that's not so easy to do, lately. I don't care that you fell asleep."

"Lils, you don't understand."

"What don't I understand, James?"

He sighed again.

"Keep in mind, I intended this to be a bit more romantic," he murmured. "And I certainly didn't plan for the food on my face." He grinned sheepishly, before kneeling before her and reaching in his pocket.

"Lily Evans, I loved you from the first moment I met you. I looked at you, and I thought, _'That's the girl I'm going to marry.'_ And I loved you all those years in between, when you wouldn't look twice at me. But then you gave me a chance, and my love for you only grew stronger, and, miracle of all miracles, you grew to love me back. I can't bear the thought of a single day without you by my side, Lily. I won't ever stop loving you. Will you marry me?"

A single tear slid down her pale cheek.

"Oh, James," she murmured, and she went down on her knees in front of him. She kissed him, food-face and all. "Of course I will."

"Despite all this?" he asked, gesturing to the fiasco that was meant to be an important, romantic dinner.

"Despite all this," she confirmed, kissing him again.


	3. A Baby

The last time James stayed up all night, it wasn't because he was nervous or because he was planning. It was because he was anxious and excited and anticipatory and so much more.

_-JPLE-_

James paced the length of the St. Mungo's waiting room at least one hundred times, back and forth, back and forth.

Remus sat calmly on a couch, reading a book. Sirius was snoring in his lap (Sirius had never understood the concept of "personal space", and Remus had given up trying to teach him years ago).

"What if something's wrong? What if that's why it's taking so long? _I've got to go find her!"_ James was panicking just a bit.

"James," Remus said without even glancing up from his book. "Relax. She's fine. They're fine. It takes a while."

"This long? _This long, Remus?"_

"James, you seriously need to calm down. I'm sure everything's all right."

"We've been here fourteen hours! They kicked us out an hour ago!"

Remus finally looked up. "Yes, Prongs, I'm aware, given that you flooed us rather hysterically the minute you brought Lils here, and we've been here since," he drawled.

"Well, excuse me if I thought my best mates ought to know that my wife is having a baby!"

"That's not what I meant," Remus stated, rolling his eyes. "Two in the morning is just an interesting time to get a Floo call."

"It's not my fault the kid's got a weird internal clock," James muttered sullenly, pouting a little.

Remus smirked. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he gets that from you."

James considered this and was forced to concede.

Glancing around, Remus realized something. "Where's Pete?"

James frowned. "I don't know, actually. He wasn't home when I flooed."

"Hmm. You don't suppose his mum's sick _again_, do you?"

Shaking his head, James replied, "I just don't know, Rem. He's with her all the time, but she doesn't seem to be getting any better."

Remus sighed. "I know. And he's so anxious all the time, when he's around – not that that's often."

"I'm worried about him," James murmured.

Remus hmmed in agreement as James returned to pacing.

"Mr. Potter?"

James whirled around so fast, he tripped over his own feet and sprawled face-first across the waiting room floor. Flushing, he propped himself up on his elbows and asked the Healer, "Yes?"

Healer Fields barely kept a smirk off his face. "You have a very healthy little boy. Would you like to see him?"

The broad grin that spread across his face was answer enough. Remus shook Sirius awake.

As the three of them stood up, the Healer attempted to stop them. "Family only, for now."

James shook his head. "They are family."

The Healer looked at him doubtfully, but let them through anyway.

"Lily!" James bounded over to the bed, tenderly brushing the sweaty bangs out of her face. He looked down at the bundle in her arms, beaming. At that point, it didn't matter that he hadn't slept in far too long, or that he'd been worried out of his mind just minutes ago. All that mattered was this beautiful baby boy and his wonderful wife.

Sirius and Remus hesitated in the doorway until James glanced back at them. Happiness radiated from him, so much so that it was almost overbearing.

"Come on, guys. Meet your godson."

They all knew that Remus couldn't officially be the child's godfather because of Ministry regulations, but in that moment, that didn't matter. Harry was a mini-Marauder, and they were all family, no matter what the Ministry said.

_-JPLE-_

The first time James stayed up all night, he drank too much coffee and almost messed up his only chance with the girl he'd always known was his forever.

The second time, he fell asleep during one of the most important nights of his life, and almost drove off the woman he hoped would become his fiance.

The third time, it didn't matter, because Harry and his family were worth it, and his night was so much easier than his wife's.


End file.
